In a digital broadcasting receiving system using a satellite, for example, a video/audio signal is compressed using a digital signal compression technique, and a stream on which video/audio digital signals on a plurality of programs are time-division multiplexed (a transport stream) is broadcast via a transponder (a satellite relay). On the other hand, a broadcasting receiver for receiving such digital broadcasting selects by a tuner one of a plurality of transponders in digital broadcasting received through an antenna, selects by demultiplex processing one of a plurality of channels included in the one transponder, and decodes a digital signal on the selected channel, to output a video/audio signal.
In recent years, proposed as such a broadcasting receiver has been one containing a recording device such as a hard disk. Further, proposed has been one having an IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 1394 mounted thereon as an interface to record a received program on a recording device such as an external D-VHS (Digital VHS).
However, the built-in recording device generally has a small storage capacity, and is not suited to store a lot of programs for a long time period. On the other hand, in a configuration in which recording is performed on the external recording device through the interface, a lot of programs can be stored for a long time period by replacing a tape or the like. However, there may arise such a problem that program recording cannot be performed because a user forgets to insert the tape or the like or the remaining amount of the tape is insufficient.